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I have a new Dell R710 that I have 2008 Server R2 64-bit installed. It's role is file server. I first noticed there were VSS initialization issues in BackupExec and that the system state wasn't getting backed up.

Then I would run "vssadmin list writers" from CMD and system writer would be timing out....

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Based on the research, the error message may be related to the Backup application that is running on the problematic server.

Do you use any third party software application to make backup on the problematic server except Symantec BackupExec?

The VSS event ID 12289 may occurs if the third party backup application is used. If possible, we would like to suggest that you use Windows Server Backup which is a built-in feature on Windows Server to take backups, this error may be caused by BackupExec.

1. As the first action, please restart your server and see if the mentioned error messages and conditions occur again.

I restarted and the system writer status will go back to "State: 1 no error". When I tried to use the Windows Server Backup program to backup the system state, I would get the same error. My Dell creates a 2 GB partition using FAT32 that contains
bootsect.bak, bootmgr.ini, and a folder named "Boot". I converted that to NTFS. Rebooted, retried the system state and was successful. I use BackupExec 2010 R3. I reran the backup job and was success backing up the system state. Usually after rebooting the
system writer would be fine. I would run the backup and the system writer would go back to to an
errored state. Now after both system state backups the system writer shows it is still fine. Although when I right click on C: > Configure Shadow Copies, I still get the error 0x8004230f "Failed to retrieve volumes that are eligible for shadow copies".

2. Run chkdsk /f C: on the server, reboot the server and see if the mentioned error messages and conditions occur again.

I haven't ran that yet. But a read-only chkdsk reports a clean volume. I will try that on reboot tonight during the maintenance window.

Is your problematic server a virtual server? If you have installed the agent of the Symantec Backup Exec on this server, uninstall it, reboot the server and then see the result.

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Please check the situation without installing the Backup Exec agent...

Also please note that CCleaner is a tool that you mainly run it on Windows Clients-class of operating systems and so is not recommended to use it on your server...

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I cannot confirm that the provided article can resolve your issue but remember that to backup registry (or at least export the registry key that you want to delete) first...

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Based on previous experience, this error may occur on the server that installed symantec backup software, the error may be caused by BackupExec, we would like to suggest that you use Windows Server Backup which is a built-in feature on Windows Server
to take backups, it is not compatible with windows server backup, I'm sorry to let you know this error may persist if you stick to use Symantec software on your server.

Jeff Ren TechNet Community Support beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

After confirming that the related agent for Symantec Backup Exec has not been installed on the problematic server, re-registering VSS related dlls may resolve your problem. To do so, copy the following code into a text file, save the text file with .bat
extention and then run it. Then reboot the server and report back the result:

@echo off
REM
REM Batch file that attempts to reset the
REM Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) installation.
REM
echo This batch file must be run as an Administrator. If you are using Windows
echo Vista then run it by right-clicking on the batch file and selecting
echo "Run as administrator"
%SYSTEMDRIVE%
cd %SystemRoot%\System32
echo.
echo Ignore any messages saying a service is not started.
echo.
Net stop vss
Net stop swprv
regsvr32 ole32.dll
regsvr32 oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 vss_ps.dll
Vssvc /Register
regsvr32 /i swprv.dll
echo eventcls.dll will fail to register on Windows Vista.
regsvr32 /i eventcls.dll
echo es.dll will fail to register on Windows Vista.
regsvr32 es.dll
regsvr32 stdprov.dll
echo.
echo vssui.dll only exists on Windows 2003. Ignore the error if not using Windows 2003.
regsvr32 vssui.dll
regsvr32 msxml.dll
regsvr32 msxml3.dll
echo.
echo msxml4.dll may not be installed and is optional. Ignore the error.
regsvr32 msxml4.dll
echo.
echo DONE!
echo.
echo IMPORTANT: Reboot your computer. After the reboot, open a command prompt
echo and run the following:
echo.
echo vssadmin list writers
echo.
echo Ensure that all your writers are displayed without errors.
echo.
echo vssadmin list providers
echo.
echo Ensure that all your providers are displayed without errors.
pause

Please feel free to let us know if you have any question or concern.

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This is the output of the bat file....
------------------
This batch file must be run as an Administrator. If you are using Windows
Vista then run it by right-clicking on the batch file and selecting
"Run as administrator"

Ignore any messages saying a service is not started.

The Volume Shadow Copy service is not started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3521.

The Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider service is not started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3521.

eventcls.dll will fail to register on Windows Vista.
es.dll will fail to register on Windows Vista.

vssui.dll only exists on Windows 2003. Ignore the error if not using Windows 200
3.

msxml4.dll may not be installed and is optional. Ignore the error.

DONE!

IMPORTANT: Reboot your computer. After the reboot, open a command prompt
and run the following:

vssadmin list writers

Ensure that all your writers are displayed without errors.

vssadmin list providers

Ensure that all your providers are displayed without errors.
Press any key to continue . . .

I rebooted. Still getting the error. in Application Events I get an error ID 12293, Source is VSS

The mentioned error event may be logged because Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is not started on the target machine. To test this situation do the following steps:

1. Verify Volume Shadow Copy service is started on the target machine.

Go to, Windows Services console (Start > Run > type Services.msc)

Check for Volume Shadow Copy status.

The status of this service should be in Manual. If so, please start it manually and check the Event Viewer for related Warning or Error messages.

Please also copy the entire error event (open the error event in Event Viewer and click on the
Copy button) and paste it here.

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Another piece of information that may prove helpful is to know which volume corresponds to the original DeviceIoControl error
0x80070057 being reported for '\\Volume{caaccaea-2a96-11e1-b14b-806e6f6e6963}'.

Also, can you please detail how and what are you configuring shadow copies when you experience the other orginal error 0x8004230f.

When able, please run and report the output for the below commands.Apologies for asking you to gather and provide more information.

Error: The shadow copy provider had an unexpected error while trying to process the specified command.

Please check the status of the Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider service. The status of this service should be in
Manual. If so, please start it manually and check the Event Viewer for related Warning or Error messages.

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Thank you for providing the information. Ok, your S: volume maps to '\\Volume{caaccaea-2a96-11e1-b14b-806e6f6e6963}'. As an observation, your D: volume has the label "TrueCrypt". If TrueCrypt is enabled, there are known
interoperability issues with VSS and TrueCrypt. So it would be prudent for you to manually diagnose the current VSS issue by dismounting possible TrueCrypt volumes (k:,t:) and\or using the "Mount Options" "Mount volume as removeable medium\media" and
determine if VSS becomes operational. If not, let me know and I will continue to review the provided information.

By the way, I performed some diagnostics with TrueCrypt and I was able to reproduce the issues that you are experiencing.

From further review of your provided information, it appears that the cause of the Backup Exec System State backup failures is because your System volume is encrypted with TrueCrypt. The System State ASR VSS Component resides on the System volume and
since VSS snapshots cannot be performed for TrueCrypt encrypted volumes a backup failure will result. Please review the ASR VSS Metadata in the Backup Exec logs directory to confirm: “c:\program files\symantec\backup exec\logs\{BE000CBE-11FE-4426-9C58-531AA6355FC4}
- ASR Writer.xml”.

To resolve the Backup Exec System State backup failures, the System volume must be un-encrypted with TrueCrypt. I know this is a difficult action but it is essential.

Also, in order to resolve the other VSS operational issues, all of the TrueCrypt encrypted volumes and encrypted volume file containers must be mounted as removable media. However and unfortunately, a VSS snapshot will still not be successful for any
TrueCrypt encrypted volumes and encrypted volume file containers.

I'm having the same or a very similar issue. But one Thing I know is, that I changed to System drive just bevor this happend for the first time. On this Server I just had the System drive running on a Raid 1. I changed to a raid 5 on a new Controller.
But haven't done a new Installation, just a Partition copy. I guess that the proble is related to the "now missing old hard drive". But if I'm right I have no idea how to get rid of it. Must be somewhere whithin the registry but where?

Solved 12289 VSS deviceIO errors.. There was a unknown volume in device manager along with the generic volume, inside "storage volumes" with show hidden items selected. Found that volume.inf and volume.pnf missing from
windows\inf ... How they were deleted or how the C: still worked idk.. Identified problem by experiencing weirdness with disk manager console, creating new disk.. copy the files from another 2008 server x86. Back
in business!

I get "Error 0x80042306: The shadow copy provider had an error." when trying to enable shadow copy on the drive in question; also, seeing event ID 12289 (with hr = 0x80070057); have two other drives on the same system, which do work

per Chris: went to Device Manager, View menu and Show Hidden Devices, expanded the now visible Storage Volumes, right clicked on the several greyed out Generic Volumes and selected Uninstalled (okay, Shadow Copy Volumes also became visible, and uninstalled
a pair a greyed out entries there)--restarted Volume Shadow Copy via services.msc, but *not* fixed (even after reboot for good measure); but I do love your tenacity (and that this helped others).

I get "Error 0x80042306: The shadow copy provider had an error." when trying to enable shadow copy on the drive in question; also, seeing event ID 12289 (with hr = 0x80070057); have two other drives on the same system, which do work

per Chris: went to Device Manager, View menu and Show Hidden Devices, expanded the now visible Storage Volumes, right clicked on the several greyed out Generic Volumes and selected Uninstalled (okay, Shadow Copy Volumes also became visible, and uninstalled
a pair a greyed out entries there)--restarted Volume Shadow Copy via services.msc, but *not* fixed (even after reboot for good measure); but I do love your tenacity (and that this helped others).